document_title: Battle of Saipan

question_text: who fell from power after the battle of saipan

text: Battle of Saipan

text: Background[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: In the campaigns of 1943 and the first half of 1944, the Allies had captured the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea. This left the Japanese holding the Philippines, the Caroline Islands, Palau Islands and Mariana Islands.

text: It had always been the intention of the American planners to bypass the Carolines and Palauan islands and to seize the Marianas and Taiwan. From these latter bases, communications between the Japanese archipelago and Japanese forces to the south and west could be cut. From the Marianas, Japan would be well within the range of an air offensive relying on the new Boeing B-29 Superfortress long-range bomber with its operational radius of 1,500 mi (2,400 km).

text: While not part of the original American plan, Douglas MacArthur, commander of the Southwest Pacific Area command, obtained authorization to advance through New Guinea and Morotai toward the Philippines. This allowed MacArthur to keep his personal pledge to liberate the Philippines, made in his "I shall return" speech, and also allowed the active use of the large forces built up in the southwest Pacific theatre. The Japanese, expecting an attack somewhere on their perimeter, thought an attack on the Caroline Islands most likely. To reinforce and supply their garrisons, they needed naval and air superiority, so Operation A-Go, a major carrier attack, was prepared for June 1944.

text: Opposing Forces[edit]

text: American order of battle[edit]

text:
U.S. Fifth Fleet[6]
Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in heavy cruiser Indianapolis

text:
Joint Expeditionary Force (Task Force 51)
Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner in amphibious command ship Rocky Mount

text:
Northern Attack Force (Task Force 52)
Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner in amphibious command ship Rocky Mount

text: V Amphibious Corps

text:
Commanding General (thru 12 Jul): Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, USMC
Commanding General (after 12 Jul): Major General Harry Schmidt, USMC

text: Northern sector (Red and Green beaches):

text:
2nd Marine Division (21,746 officers and enlisted)
Commanding General: Major General Thomas E. Watson

2nd Marine Regiment (-)
6th Marine Regiment
8th Marine Regiment
10th Marine Regiment (Artillery)
18th Marine Regiment (Engineers)
1st Battalion, 29th Marine Regiment[7]
Amphibious Unit:

715th Amphibian Tractor Bttn. (Army)

text: Southern sector (Blue and Yellow beaches):

text:
4th Marine Division (21,618 officers and enlisted)
Commanding General (thru 12 Jul): Major General Harry Schmidt
Commanding General (after 12 Jul): Major General Clifton B. Cates

23rd Marine Regiment
24th Marine Regiment
25th Marine Regiment
14th Marine Regiment (Artillery)
20th Marine Regiment (Engineers)
Amphibious Units:

708th Amphibian Tank Bttn. (Army), 773rd Amphibian Tractor Bttn. (Army), 534th Amphibian Tractor Bttn. (Army)

text: Army (landed D+1):

text:
27th Infantry Division (16,404 officers and enlisted)
Commanding General (thru 24 Jun): Major General Ralph C. Smith
Commanding General (24 Jun thru 28 Jun): Major General Sanderford Jarman
Commanding General (after 28 Jun): Major General George W. Griner

105th Infantry Regiment
106th Infantry Regiment
165th Infantry Regiment
Artillery:

104th Field Artillery Bttn., 105th Field Artillery Bttn., 106th Field Artillery Bttn., 249th Field Artillery Bttn.

Engineers:

102nd Engineer Combat Bttn., 502nd Engineer Combat Bttn.

XXIV Corps Artillery
Commanding General: Brigadier General Arthur M. Harper

1st Provisional Gun Group
225th Field Artillery Howitzer Group

text: Japanese Order of Battle[edit]

text: Central Pacific Area Fleet HQ[8]

text:
Commanding officer: Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (self-inflicted gunshot 6 July)
Chief of staff: Rear Admiral Hideo Yano (seppuku 7 July)

31st Army

Commanding officer: Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata (on inspection tour of Guam during battle; seppuku there 11 August)

14th Air Fleet

text: Defenses of Saipan

text:
Commanding General: Lieutenant General Saito Yoshitsugu (seppuku 7 July)
43rd Infantry Division

118th Infantry Regiment
135th Infantry Regiment
136th Infantry Regiment

47th Independent Mixed Brigade

316th Independent Infantry Battalion
317th Independent Infantry Battalion
318th Independent Infantry Battalion

Other units:

3rd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment
9th Tank Regiment (of 1st Tank Division)
3rd Battalion, 9th Independent Mixed Regiment
1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment
25th Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment
14th Independent Mortar Battalion
17th Independent Mortar Battalion
Miscellaneous straggler units

text: Battle[edit]

text: The bombardment of Saipan began on 13 June 1944. Fifteen battleships were involved, and 165,000 shells were fired. Seven modern fast battleships delivered 2,400 16 in (410 mm) shells, but to avoid potential minefields, fire was from a distance of 10,000 yd (9,100 m) or more, and crews were inexperienced in shore bombardment. The following day the eight older battleships and eleven cruisers under Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf replaced the fast battleships but were lacking in time and ammunition.[9]

text: The landings[10] began at 07:00 on 15 June 1944. More than 300 LVTs landed 8,000 Marines on the west coast of Saipan by about 09:00. Eleven fire support ships covered the Marine landings. The naval force consisted of the battleships Tennessee and California, the cruisers Birmingham and Indianapolis, the destroyers Norman Scott, Monssen, Coghlan, Halsey Powell, Bailey, Robinson and Albert W. Grant. Careful artillery preparation – placing flags in the lagoon to indicate the range – allowed the Japanese to destroy about 20 amphibious tanks, and they strategically placed barbed wire, artillery, machine gun emplacements and trenches to maximize the American casualties. However, by nightfall, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions had a beachhead about 6 mi (10 km) wide and 0.5 mi (1 km) deep.[11] The Japanese counter-attacked at night but were repulsed with heavy losses. On 16 June, units of the U.S. Army's 27th Infantry Division landed and advanced on the airfield at Ås Lito (now the location of Saipan International Airport). Again the Japanese counter-attacked at night. On 18 June, Saito abandoned the airfield.

text: The invasion surprised the Japanese high command, which had been expecting an attack further south. Admiral Soemu Toyoda, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy, saw an opportunity to use the A-Go force to attack the U.S. Navy forces around Saipan. On 15 June, he gave the order to attack. But the resulting battle of the Philippine Sea was a disaster for the Imperial Japanese Navy, which lost three aircraft carriers and hundreds of planes. The garrisons of the Marianas would have no hope of resupply or reinforcement.

text: Without resupply, the battle on Saipan was hopeless for the defenders, but the Japanese were determined to fight to the last man. Saito organized his troops into a line anchored on Mount Tapotchau in the defensible mountainous terrain of central Saipan. The nicknames given by the Americans to the features of the battle – "Hell's Pocket", "Purple Heart Ridge" and "Death Valley" – indicate the severity of the fighting. The Japanese used the many caves in the volcanic landscape to delay the attackers, by hiding during the day and making sorties at night. The Americans gradually developed tactics for clearing the caves by using flamethrower teams supported by artillery and machine guns.

text: The operation was marred by inter-service controversy when Marine General Holland Smith, unsatisfied with the performance of the 27th Division, relieved its commander, Army Major General Ralph C. Smith. However, General Holland Smith had not inspected the terrain over which the 27th was to advance. Essentially, it was a valley surrounded by hills and cliffs under Japanese control. The 27th took heavy casualties and eventually, under a plan developed by General Ralph Smith and implemented after his relief, had one battalion hold the area while two other battalions successfully flanked the Japanese.[12]

text: By 7 July, the Japanese had nowhere to retreat. Saito made plans for a final suicidal banzai charge. On the fate of the remaining civilians on the island, Saito said, "There is no longer any distinction between civilians and troops. It would be better for them to join in the attack with bamboo spears than be captured." At dawn, with a group of 12 men carrying a great red flag in the lead, the remaining able-bodied troops – about 3,000 men – charged forward in the final attack. Amazingly, behind them came the wounded, with bandaged heads, crutches, and barely armed. The Japanese surged over the American front lines, engaging both army and Marine units. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 105th Infantry Regiment were almost destroyed, losing 650 killed and wounded. However, the fierce resistance of these two battalions, as well as that of Headquarters Company, 105th Infantry, and of supply elements of 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Artillery Regiment, resulted in over 4,300 Japanese killed. For their actions during the 15-hour Japanese attack, three men of the 105th Infantry were awarded the Medal of Honor – all posthumously. Numerous others fought the Japanese until they were overwhelmed by the largest Japanese Banzai attack in the Pacific War.[13][4]

text: By 16:15 on 9 July, Admiral Turner announced that Saipan was officially secured.[14] Saito, along with commanders Hirakushi and Igeta, committed suicide in a cave. Vice-admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the naval commander who led the Japanese carriers at Pearl Harbor, also committed suicide in the closing stages of the battle. He had been in command of the Japanese naval air forces stationed on the island.

text: In the end, almost the entire garrison of troops on the island – at least 29,000 – died. For the Americans, the victory was the most costly to date in the Pacific War: out of 71,000 who landed, 2,949 were killed and 10,464 wounded.[15][16] Future Hollywood actor Lee Marvin was among the many Americans wounded. He was serving with "I" Company, 24th Marine Regiment, when he was hit by shrapnel in the buttocks by Japanese mortar fire during the assault on Mount Tapochau. He was awarded the Purple Heart and was given a medical discharge with the rank of private first class in 1945.[17]

text: Further resistance[edit]

text: While the battle officially ended on July 9, Japanese resistance still persisted with Captain Sakae Ōba and 46 other soldiers who survived with him during the last banzai charge.[18][19] After the battle, Oba and his soldiers led many civilians throughout the jungle of the island to escape capture by the Americans, while also conducting guerrilla-style attacks on pursuing forces. The Americans tried numerous times to hunt them down but failed due to their speed and stealth. In September 1944, the Marines began conducting patrols in the island's interior, searching for survivors who were raiding their camp for supplies.[19] Although some of the soldiers wanted to fight, Captain Ōba asserted that their primary concerns were to protect the civilians and to stay alive to continue the war. At one point, the Japanese soldiers and civilians were almost captured by the Americans as they hid in a clearing and ledges of a mountain, some were less than 20 feet (6.1 m) above the heads of the Marines, but the Americans failed to see them.[18] Oba's holdout lasted for over a year (approximately 16 months) before finally surrendering on December 1, 1945, three months after the official surrender of Imperial Japan.

text: Oba was so successful in his resistance that the Marines nicknamed him the "Fox", and once even caused the reassignment of a commander.[18]

text: Civilian casualties[edit]

text: Being a former Spanish and then German territory, Saipan became a Mandate of Japan by the League of Nations after World War I, and thus a large number of Japanese civilians lived there – at least 25,000.[20] The U.S. erected a civilian prisoner encampment on 23 June 1944 that soon had more than 1,000 inmates. Electric lights at the camp were conspicuously left on overnight to attract other civilians with the promise of three warm meals and no risk of accidentally being shot in combat.[20]

text: Weapons and the tactics of close quarter fighting also resulted in high civilian casualties. Civilian shelters were located virtually everywhere on the island, with very little difference noticeable to attacking marines. The standard method of clearing suspected bunkers was with high-explosive and/or high-explosives augmented with petroleum (e.g., gelignite, napalm, diesel fuel). In such conditions, high civilian casualties were inevitable.[21]

text: Historian Bergamini assumed that Emperor Hirohito personally found the threat of defection by Japanese civilians disturbing. Much of the community was of low caste, and there was a risk that live civilians would be surprised by generous U.S. treatment. Native Japanese sympathizers would hand the Americans a powerful propaganda weapon to subvert the "fighting spirit" of Japan in radio broadcasts. At the end of June, Hirohito sent out an imperial order encouraging the civilians of Saipan to commit suicide. As described by Bergamini, the order authorized the commander of Saipan to promise civilians who died there an equal spiritual status in the afterlife with those of soldiers perishing in combat. General Hideki Tōjō intercepted the order on 30 June and delayed its sending, but it went out anyway the next day. By the time the Marines advanced on the north tip of the island, from 8–12 July, most of the damage had been done.

text: 1,000 Japanese civilians committed suicide in the last days of the battle by fears such as American mutilation of Japanese war dead. Some Japanese people living beside the cliff jumped from places which were later named Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff. These would become part of the National Historic Landmark District as Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island, designated in 1985. Today the sites are a memorial and Japanese people visit to console the victims' souls.[22][23]

text: American military awards[edit]

text: On 16 June 1944, Gunnery Sergeant Robert H. McCard, a U.S. Marine, killed sixteen enemies while sacrificing himself to ensure the safety of his tank crew. McCard was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. The USS Robert H. McCard (DD-822), a Gearing-class destroyer, was named in his honor.

text: Seth T. Garner

text: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Seth T. Garner (MCSN: 416496), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Group Leader of the First Battalion, Second Marines, SECOND Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Saipan, Marianas Islands, 24 June 1944.

text: With his Battalion in attack, Private First Class Garner led a unit which made contact with a counterattacking force of thirty Japanese. With all save one of his men killed during the ensuing fire fight, he exerted tremendous effort and, although painfully wounded by an enemy grenade, tenaciously held the line at that point. Killing the Japanese officer leading the counterattack, he succeeded in disorganizing the group and in frustrating their attempts to break throughout lines, thereby contributing materially to the effectiveness of his Battalion's attack.

text: On 25 June 1944, PFC Harold G. Epperson, part of the 2nd Marine Division, threw himself on a grenade to contain the blast from killing members of his squad. For his bravery and sacrifice, PFC Epperson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.[24] Epperson's Medal of Honor was presented to his mother in a ceremony on Wednesday, 4 July 1945 in Tiger Stadium, Massillon, Ohio. The USS Epperson (DD-719), a Gearing-class destroyer, was named in his honor.

text: When the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment came under attack from a much larger enemy force on 7 July, Lieutenant Colonel William O'Brien refused to leave the front lines even after being wounded, and continued to lead his men until being overrun and killed. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 9 May 1945, for his actions throughout the battle for Saipan. The U.S. Army ship USAT Col. William J. O'Brien, which served in the Pacific Ocean at the end of World War II, was named in his honor.

text: On 7 July, Private Thomas A. Baker and his comrades from the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, came under attack by a large Japanese force. Although seriously wounded early in the attack, he refused to be evacuated and continued to fight in the close-range battle until running out of ammunition. When a comrade was wounded while trying to carry him to safety, Baker insisted that he be left behind. At his request, his comrades left him propped against a tree and gave him a pistol, which had eight bullets remaining. When American forces retook the position, they found the pistol, now empty, and eight dead Japanese soldiers around Baker's body. Baker was posthumously promoted to sergeant and, on 9 May 1945, awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions throughout the battle for Saipan.[25] He was buried at Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, New York.[26]

text: On 7 July 1944, Army Captain Ben L. Salomon, the battalion surgeon of 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division aided the evacuation of wounded soldiers. After defending his unarmed patients from four Japanese soldiers, he manned a machine gun post and effectively repelled numerous enemy forces to enable the evacuation of wounded personnel. When his body was recovered after the battle, 98 dead Japanese soldiers were found in front of his position. For gallantry in battle, Captain Ben L. Salomon was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in May 2002.[27] Salomon was the third Jewish service member to be awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II.

text: PFC Guy Gabaldon, of Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was a Mexican-American from Los Angeles. He is officially credited with capturing more than 1,000 Japanese prisoners during the battle. PFC Gabaldon, who was raised by Japanese-Americans, used a combination of street Japanese and guile to convince soldiers and civilians alike that U.S. troops were not barbarians, and that they would be well treated upon surrender. For his outstanding bravery, Gabaldon received a Silver Star, which was upgraded to the Navy Cross.[28] During the war, his commanders had requested that he receive the Medal of Honor for his actions; however, his initial award was the Silver Star. In 1998, efforts were re-initiated to secure the Medal of Honor for PFC Gabaldon.[29] The effort was ongoing in 2006.[30]

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: Although major fighting had officially ceased on 9 July, pockets of Japanese resistance continued. In September 1944, U.S. Marines began patrols into the island interior in order to bring in civilians and soldiers still holding out in the jungles. A group led by Captain Sakae Oba managed to evade capture for more than 512 days until surrendering to American forces on 1 December 1945, three months after the official surrender of Japan. In February 2011, a film about Oba, Oba: The Last Samurai, was released in Japan.

text: With the capture of Saipan, the American military was now only 1,300 mi (1,100 nmi; 2,100 km) away from the home islands of Japan. The victory would prove to be one of the most important strategic moments during the war in the Pacific Theater, as the Japanese mainland was now within striking distance of United States' B-29 bombers.[31] From this point on, Saipan would become the launch point for retaking other islands in the Mariana chain and the invasion of the Philippines in October 1944. Four months after capture, more than 100 B-29s from Saipan's Isely Field were regularly attacking the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japan mainland. In response, Japanese aircraft attacked Saipan and Tinian on several occasions between November 1944 and January 1945. The U.S. capture of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) ended further Japanese air attacks.

text: The loss of Saipan was a heavy blow to both the military and civilian administration of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō. According to one Japanese admiral: "Our war was lost with the loss of Saipan." U.S. Marine Corps General Holland Smith said: "It was the decisive battle of the Pacific offensive [...] it opened the way to the Japanese home islands."[32] Shortly after Saipan was taken, a meeting at the Imperial General Headquarters was convened where it was decided that a symbolic change of leadership should be made: Tōjō would step aside and Emperor Hirohito would have less involvement in day-to-day military affairs, even though he was defined as both head of state and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the Meiji Constitution of 1889. The general staff believed it was now time to distance the Imperial family from blame as the tide of war turned against the Japanese.[20] Although Tōjō agreed to resign, Hirohito blocked his resignation because he considered Tōjō to be Japan's strongest war leader. But after Tōjō failed to shuffle his Cabinet due to excessive internal hostility, he conceded defeat.[20] On 18 July, Tōjō again submitted his resignation, this time unequivocally. His entire cabinet resigned with him.[33] Former IJA General Kuniaki Koiso became Prime Minister on 22 July. However, due to the legacy of Saipan, Koiso was nothing more than a titular Prime Minister, and was prevented by the Imperial General Headquarters from participating in any military decisions.[34]

text: Saipan also saw a change in the way Japanese war reporting was presented on the home front. Initially, as the battle started, Japanese accounts concentrated on the fighting spirit of the IJA and the heavy casualties it was inflicting on American forces. However, any reader familiar with Saipan's geography would have known from the chronology of engagements that the U.S. forces were relentlessly advancing northwards. No further mention of Saipan was made following the final battle on 7 July, which was not initially reported to the public.[35] However, after Tōjō's resignation on 18 July, an accurate, almost day-by-day, account of the defeat on Saipan was published jointly by the Army and Navy. It mentioned the near total loss of all Japanese soldiers and civilians on the island and the use of "human bullets". The reports had a devastating effect on Japanese opinion; mass suicides were now seen as defeat, not evidence of an "Imperial Way".[36] This was the first time Japanese forces had accurately been depicted in a battle since Midway, which had been proclaimed a victory.[36]

text: After the war concluded, apologists for Hirohito asserted that the order encouraging the civilians of Saipan to commit suicide for benefits in the afterlife had in fact been forged, along with other incriminating orders. Historian David Bergamini considers this unlikely, writing that "half the staff of the palace [...] would have felt obliged to cut open their bellies if the sacred seals of the Throne had ever been misapplied."[20]

text: Memorial[edit]

text: Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff, along with a number of surviving isolated Japanese fortifications, are recognized as historic sites on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The cliffs are also part of the National Historic Landmark District Landing Beaches; Aslito/Isley Field; & Marpi Point, Saipan Island, which also includes the American landing beaches, the B-29 runways of Isley Field, and the surviving Japanese infrastructure of the Aslito and Marpi Point airfields.

text: In popular culture[edit]

text:
The novel Away All Boats, from which a film was made, was based on the author's personal experiences on an attack transport. One long section gives a very detailed account of the battle as seen by the crew members both on board and on shore.
The film Oba: The Last Samurai depicted the last banzai charge of the Japanese during the war, and the holdout of Captain Sakae Ōba.


document_title: Thursday Night Football

question_text: who sings the nfl thursday night song 2017

root

text: Thursday Night Football

text: Background[edit]

text: Early history[edit]

text: The NFL Network's coverage was not the first time that NFL games were covered on Thursday or Saturday. Prior to the new contract, ESPN carried a handful of sporadic Thursday night games (usually those displaced from Sunday night) and the broadcast networks used to air several national games on Saturday afternoons in mid-to-late December after the college football regular season ended. Incidentally, the only reason the league is even allowed to televise football games on Saturday night stems from a legal loophole: the league's antitrust exemption, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, was written when the NFL regular season ended in mid-December, and as such, it contains specific language that prohibits televising NFL games in most markets on Friday nights and all day on Saturdays between the second week of September and the second week of December, to protect high school and college football. Since most high school and college seasons have ended by mid-December, other than bowl games, there has been little desire to close this loophole, even though the regular season has expanded well beyond mid-December since the law's passage.

tag: p

text: In 2005, when the NFL negotiated a new set of television contracts, Comcast-owned OLN offered to pay $450 million for an eight-year contract to carry NFL prime time games. In exchange, Comcast planned to add NFL Network to its digital cable lineup. The channel was added, but NFL Network decided to air the games itself, foregoing a rights fee.[4] The other television deals generated $3.735 billion per year over an eight-year period for CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and DirecTV (owner of the out-of-market sports package NFL Sunday Ticket).[citation needed]

text: Thursday Night Football debuted on November 23, 2006, with the Kansas City Chiefs handing the visiting Denver Broncos a 19–10 Thanksgiving defeat. Each of the game broadcasts were titled either Thursday Night Football or Saturday Night Football, depending on the night on which it aired. This format carried over to the 2007 season.

text: Starting in 2008, NFL Network eliminated all but one of the Saturday night games and started their Thursday night package three weeks earlier. This was done to accommodate the earlier schedule and the league's antitrust exemption that prohibits Saturday games from being held for most of the season. In the following season, all references to Saturday Night Football were dropped, and any games that are not played on Thursday (such as in 2016, two Christmas weekend games and an NFL International Series game) have since been branded as "special editions" of Thursday Night Football, and later Thursday Night Special or NFL Network Special. The Thanksgiving matchup was moved from NFL Network to NBC's Sunday Night Football package as part of the new broadcast contract after the 2011 season. During Super Bowl week in 2012, it was announced that the Thursday Night Football package would expand from eight to 13 games and air on NFL Network, again soliciting and rejecting offers from Turner Sports and Comcast.[citation needed]

text: 2014–2015: partnership with CBS Sports[edit]

text: In January 2014, it was reported that the NFL was planning to sub-license a package of up to eight Thursday Night Football games to another broadcaster for the 2014 NFL season. The league had negotiated with its existing broadcast partners, along with Turner Sports. These eight games were to be simulcast by NFL Network, and reports indicated that ESPN planned to place the games on ABC in the event it won the rights, bringing the NFL back to the network for the first time since Super Bowl XL and the move of Monday Night Football to ESPN in 2006.[5][6][7][8] The remaining games would remain exclusive to NFL Network, due to carriage contracts with TV providers requiring at least eight NFL games to air exclusively on the channel per-season.[9] The decision came as the league wished to heighten the profile of its Thursday night games, which had suffered from relatively lower viewership and advertising revenue in comparison to other games.[10]

text: On February 5, 2014, the NFL announced that CBS had acquired the partial rights to Thursday Night Football for the 2014 season. Under the agreement, all of the Thursday Night Football telecasts would be produced by CBS Sports and called by the network's primary announcing team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. The first eight games of the season were simulcast nationally on NFL Network and CBS; the remaining games in the package only aired nationally on NFL Network, but per league broadcast polices, were simulcast on local stations in the participating teams' markets. CBS affiliates were given right of first refusal to air the local simulcast before it is offered to another station (as had occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio where the market's NBC affiliate WLWT aired a game between the Bengals and the Cleveland Browns instead of CBS affiliate WKRC-TV). A Saturday doubleheader was also added on Week 16: NFL Network aired the early game, while CBS aired the second, prime time game.[11][12][13][14][15]

text: The NFL considered CBS's bid to be the most attractive, owing to the network's overall ratings stature (CBS had been the highest-rated broadcast network in the U.S. since the 2005-06 television season), a commitment to aggressively promote the Thursday games across its properties, and its plans to utilize CBS Sports' top NFL talent and production staff across all of the games in the package to ensure a major improvement in quality over the previous, in-house productions.[10] CBS staff also cited experience with its joint coverage of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament with Turner Sports as an advantage in its collaboration with NFL Network staff, as talent from both networks collaborate on pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage. During the games, a distinct graphics package co-branded with both CBS and NFL Network logos is used, certain players on each team wear microphones, and 4K cameras are used to allow zoom-in shots during instant replays.[14][16]

text: With the move of selected games to CBS, media executives expected more major match-ups to appear on Thursday Night Football than in previous years in order to attract better viewership; in the past, Thursday Night Football had been criticized for often featuring games between lesser and poorer-performing teams.[17][17][18][18] CBS and the NFL unveiled the games scheduled for Thursday Night Football in April 2014; CBS's slate of games featured a number of major divisional rivalries, including New York Giants–Washington, Green Bay–Minnesota, and its opening game on September 11, 2014, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.[13][19]

text: In the wake of the controversy surrounding Ravens player Ray Rice (who had been removed from the team and suspended from the NFL earlier in the week following the discovery of footage showing the player physically assaulting his wife, Janay, who was engaged to Rice at the time the security camera footage was recorded), changes were made to pre-game coverage on the first game in order to accommodate additional interviews and discussion related to the incident. Among these changes were the removal of an introductory segment featuring Rihanna (who was similarly assaulted by fellow performer Chris Brown in 2009) performing her song "Run This Town".[20][21] Following complaints by Rihanna on Twitter regarding the removal, the song was pulled entirely from future broadcasts.[22]

text: The rights were negotiated under a one-year contract valued at $275 million; on January 18, 2015, the NFL announced that it would renew the arrangement with CBS for the 2015 season, with its value increasing to around $300 million.[2][10][23]

text: 2016–2017: CBS and NBC[edit]

text: In November 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that in response to the success of the package under CBS, the NFL was planning to negotiate a long-term contract for Thursday Night Football, with CBS, Fox, NBC, and Turner Sports showing interest.[23] The New York Post reported that this deal would also include the sale of a stake in NFL Network itself.[9]

text: On December 16, 2015, it was reported that the NFL was shopping the Thursday Night Football package as a one-year deal with an option for a second year, similarly to the current arrangement with CBS; the league also requested that bidders outline goals for "growing" NFL Network. The league was also reportedly interested in selling non-exclusive digital rights to simulcast the games to another partner, such as Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Google, or Yahoo! (which exclusively streamed an International Series as part of a trial during the 2015 season, but would shut down its original video content service in January 2016).[24] In January 2016, it was reported that the NFL was considering splitting the Thursday Night Football package across multiple broadcasters in tandem with the possibility of expanding the overall package to 17 games. It was also reported that ESPN and Turner Sports were not interested in the package due to its short-term nature, and that Fox was attempting to outbid CBS.[25][26]

text: On February 1, 2016, the NFL announced that Thursday Night Football would be shared between CBS, NBC, and NFL Network for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. CBS and NBC will each air five games (resulting in a schedule of 10 games on broadcast TV in comparison to 8 under the previous deal), followed by an additional eight games exclusively on NFL Network to satisfy NFL Network's retransmission consent contracts with cable providers; the eight NFL Network-exclusive games included six Thursday contests, a Sunday morning International Series contest, and a Christmas afternoon game. As with the previous contract, all games will be simulcast by NFL Network. Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the league was "thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of success broadcasting NFL football in primetime, and look forward to expanding with a digital partner for what will be a unique tri-cast on broadcast, cable and digital platforms."[27][28] On April 5, 2016, it was revealed that Twitter had acquired non-exclusive worldwide digital streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television TNF games. The collaboration will also include streaming content on Twitter's Periscope service, such as behind the scenes access.[29]

text: Rogers Media, who owns television rights to the Thursday Night Football package in Canada through the end of the 2016 season but has not yet acquired digital rights (the majority of the NFL's media rights in Canada are owned by Rogers's rival, Bell Media), successfully forced Twitter to block the game streams in that country, overriding the league's insistence that the free stream be global.[30][31] Due to the streaming deal, over-the-top television providers PlayStation Vue and Sling TV are also required to black out the simulcast of the games on NFL Network.[32]

text: The first game produced by NBC Sports was broadcast exclusively on NFL Network on November 3, 2016, while the first game simulcast nationally on NBC aired on November 17. A cappella group Pentatonix recorded a reworked version of their song "Sing" ("Weekend Go") to serve as the opening theme song for NBC's Thursday Night Football telecasts,[33][34] NBC also commissioned new instrumental theme music by Jimmy Greco, "Can't Hold Us Down", which was performed by members of the orchestra from the Broadway musical Hamilton.[35] Both were retained for NBC's games in 2017.

text: On April 4, 2017, it was announced that Amazon.com had acquired non-exclusive streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television games for the 2017 season over their Amazon Prime Video service, under a deal valued at $50 million, a five-fold increase over the $10 million paid by Twitter. The streams will be exclusive to paid Prime subscribers.[3] The deal includes $30 million worth of promotion.[36] Amazon planned several special features for its inaugural game, including broadcasting alternate feeds with Spanish, Portuguese and British English commentary (the last of which being intended for those unfamiliar with the rules and terminology of American football), and a pre-show hosted by Tiki Barber and Curtis Stone that featured presentations of NFL merchandise available for purchase on Amazon.[37][38] [39]

text: The November 16, 2017 telecast between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans was the first NFL broadcast to intentionally use the Skycam as its primary camera angle, as opposed to the usual sideline camera that has been used since telecasts of NFL games began in 1939. NBC Sports had previously switched to a skycam-only presentation for portions of two Sunday night games earlier that season because of fog and smoke (and, sixteen years prior, during its coverage of the XFL); positive reaction to the impromptu change prompted NBC to experiment with using the strategy for the full game.[40]

text: Coverage[edit]

text: Game announcers[edit]

text: The initial NFL Network team consisted of HBO Sports' Bryant Gumbel as play-by-play announcer, NBC Sports' Cris Collinsworth as the color commentator for the Thursday telecasts, and Dick Vermeil replacing Collinsworth for Saturday telecasts. In 2007, Collinsworth replaced Vermeil alongside Gumbel for all games.

text: Gumbel left the network after the 2007 season and his then-HBO colleague Bob Papa, who is also the radio voice of the New York Giants, was brought in to replace him. Collinsworth stayed on until the end of the 2008 season, then left to take over for the retiring John Madden as lead analyst on NBC Sunday Night Football. NFL Network replaced him with Matt Millen, who returned to broadcasting in 2009, and then added former ESPN analyst Joe Theismann for 2010.

text: For 2011, then ESPN now CBS play-by-play man Brad Nessler took over the Thursday night broadcast. He was joined by NFL Network draft analyst and NBC Notre Dame color man Mike Mayock, and the pairing spent three seasons calling games.

text: As a result of CBS taking over production responsibilities for the Thursday Night Football broadcasts, its number one broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms took over the broadcast booth.[15] With NBC adding games in 2016, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, the broadcast team of NBC Sunday Night Football, are required under league contract to do the same. NBC had initially hired former Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico for Thursdays before the league nixed the idea of any separate broadcast teams for Sunday and Thursday nights. Tirico would eventually call three Sunday Night Football games, including the Thanksgiving night game which is in the SNF package, in order for NBC to allow Michaels over a week's rest before the end of the season.[28][41] Tirico would also call the December 22, 2016 TNF game alongside Collinsworth, as well as two NBC-produced Thursday Night Special game broadcasts on December 18 and Christmas Day, respectively, both alongside former USFL and NFL quarterback Doug Flutie.[42] On May 31, 2017, it was announced that Mike Tirico would replace Al Michaels full-time for NBC's Thursday Night Football games.[43]

text: For 2017, CBS hired Tony Romo as its lead color commentator. Numerous complications needed to be resolved, namely Romo's reluctance to cover both Sunday and Thursday nights as required under the Thursday Night Football contract,[44] and the fact that Simms remains under contract with CBS through the next several years.[45] However, the network confirmed via press release that Romo's duties would include Sunday and Thursday games.[46]

text: Pregame, halftime and postgame coverage[edit]

text: Each game telecast is preceded on NFL Network by TNF GameDay, which broadcasts live from the site of each game and currently features Rich Eisen as its host, with Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin and either Marshall Faulk or Kurt Warner as analysts. The show generally begins two hours before game time (6:00 p.m. Eastern Time).

text: The game proper is preceded by a pre-game show; CBS games are preceded by Thursday Night Kickoff, hosted by James Brown, Bill Cowher, and Deion Sanders. NBC games are preceded by Football Night in America (renamed in reference of the host city of the game, such as Football Night in Tampa), hosted by Mike Tirico, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison. CBS joined Thursday Night Kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time during its games.[16] This resulted in some controversy among viewers and the producers of syndicated programming in the locally programmed timeslot before network primetime, where the pre-game affects programs such as Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Entertainment Tonight (all distributed by CBS's sister syndication division CBS Television Distribution), along with several other programs, which then require pre-emption or slotting on lower-profile alternate timeslots or stations to air in markets where they are carried by CBS or NBC affiliates in order to accommodate the Thursday games.[47]

text: Radio coverage[edit]

text: Westwood One provides national radio broadcasts of the Thursday Night Football games, with Ian Eagle calling play-by-play, Tony Boselli handling color analysis and Hub Arkush as the sideline reporter.[48] Boomer Esiason, the Monday Night Football analyst for Westwood One, is a regular substitute should Boselli be unavailable due to other commitments (in some cases, Esiason would call the Thursday night game if he is unavailable for the previous/next Monday night game and/or if the Thursday game is in close proximity to his New York home.)

text: Game announcers[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: Television[edit]

text: Current[edit]

text:
James Brown – CBS Host (2014–present)
Bill Cowher – CBS Analyst (2014–present)
Deion Sanders – CBS Analyst (2006–present)
Liam McHugh – Fill-in NBC Host (2016); NBC Host (2017–present)
Tony Dungy – NBC Analyst and Fill-in Color Analyst (2016–present)
Rodney Harrison – NBC Analyst (2016–present)

tag: ul

text:
Rich Eisen – Host (2006–present)
Chris Rose – Fill-in Host (2016–present)
Amber Theoharis - Fill-in Host (2017–present)
Dan Hellie - Fill-in Host (2017–present)
Marshall Faulk – Analyst (2006–present)
Michael Irvin – Analyst (2011–present)
Steve Mariucci – Analyst (2006–present)
LaDanian Tomlinson – Fill-in Analyst (2016–present)
Willie McGinest – Fill-in Analyst (2016–present)
Steve Smith Sr. - Fill-in Analyst (2017–present)

text:
Jim Nantz – CBS Play-by-Play (2014–present)
Tony Romo – CBS Color Analyst (2017–present)
Tracy Wolfson – CBS Sideline Reporter (2014–present)
Greg Gumbel – London, UK Special Play-by-Play (2017–present)
Trent Green – Fill-in CBS Color Analyst (2015); London, UK Special Color Analyst (2017–present)
Jamie Erdahl - London, UK Special Sideline Reporter (2017–present)
Mike Tirico – NBC Play-by-Play (2017–present); NBC Host & Fill-in Play-by-Play (2016)
Cris Collinsworth - NFL Network Analyst (2006–2008); NBC Color Analyst (2016–present)
Kurt Warner – analyst (2010–2011); Fill-in NBC Color Analyst (2017–present)
Heather Cox – NBC Sideline Reporter (2016–present)

text: Former[edit]

text:
Fran Charles – pre-game host (2006-2008)
Bob Costas – NBC Host (2016)
Jenny Dell – Fill-in CBS Sideline Reporter (2014)
Ian Eagle – Fill-in CBS Play-by-Play (2014–2015) Still calling Thursday Night Football on the Radio Side
Alex Flanagan – sideline reporter (2010–2013)
Doug Flutie – Fill-in NBC Color Analyst (2016)
Jay Glazer – pre-game analyst (2010–2011)
Trent Green – Fill-in CBS Color Analyst (2015)
Bryant Gumbel – play-by-play (2006–2007)
Tom Hammond – substitute play-by-play (2007)
Scott Hanson – sideline reporter (2009)
Kara Henderson – pre-game host (2011)
Harry Kalas – sponsorship announcer (2006–2008; deceased)
Mike Mayock – color analyst (2011–2013)
Al Michaels - NBC play-by-play (2016)
Matt Millen – color analyst (2009–2010)
Jim Mora – pre-game analyst (2010)
Brad Nessler – play-by-play (2011–2013)
Bob Papa – play-by-play (2008–2010)
Warren Sapp – pre-game analyst (2008)
Adam Schefter – sideline reporter (2006–2008)
Sterling Sharpe – pre-game analyst (2010–2011)
Phil Simms – CBS Color analyst (2014–2016)
Pat Summerall – sponsorship announcer (2009; deceased)
Joe Theismann – color analyst (2010)
Dick Vermeil – Saturday color analyst (2006)
Evan Washburn – Fill-in CBS Sideline Reporter (2015)

text: Radio[edit]

text: Current[edit]

text:
Ian Eagle – play-by-play (2008–present)
Boomer Esiason – color analyst (2013–present) Select Games
Tony Boselli – color analyst (2015–present) Select Games

text: Former[edit]

text:
Bonnie Bernstein – sideline reporter (2006–2007)
Randy Cross – color analyst (2009)
Dick Enberg – play-by-play (2006–2007)
Dennis Green – color analyst (2007–2008)
Mike Mayock – color analyst (2014)
Tim Ryan – color analyst (2015) Select Games
Sam Wyche – color analyst (2006)

text: Results[edit]

text: Thursday Night Football all-time team standings[edit]

text: This list shows the National Football League teams' all-time standings in the games they played on Thursday Night Football since 2006.

text: Standings are current as of November 16, 2017.

text:
Team
Games Played
Wins
Losses
Ties
Win Pct.
First Appearance
Most Recent Appearance

Indianapolis Colts
7
7
0

1.000
29 !November 22, 2007
defeated Atlanta 31–13
10 !October 8, 2015
defeated Houston 27–20

Kansas City Chiefs
7
5
2

.714
17 !November 23, 2006
defeated Denver 19–10
16 !October 19, 2017
lost to Oakland 31-30

Pittsburgh Steelers
10
7
3

.700
01 !December 7, 2006
defeated Cleveland 27–7
November 16, 2017
defeated Tennessee 40-17

New York Jets
7
4
3

.571
25 !November 13, 2008
defeated New England 34–31
29 !November 2, 2017
defeated Buffalo 34–21

Los Angeles Chargers‡
6
5
1

.833
18 !December 4, 2008
defeated Oakland 34–7
30 !October 13, 2016
defeated Denver 21-13

Dallas Cowboys
9
7
2

.778
03 !December 16, 2006
defeated Atlanta 38–28
12 !December 1, 2016
defeated Minnesota 17–15

Philadelphia Eagles
7
4
3

.571
02 !November 27, 2008
defeated Arizona 48–20
20 !October 12, 2017
defeated Carolina 28–23

New York Giants
7
4
3

.571
04 !December 30, 2006
defeated Washington 34–28
07 !December 22, 2016
lost to Philadelphia 24–19

San Francisco 49ers
11
5
6

.625
09 !December 14, 2006
defeated Seattle 24–14
31 !September 21, 2017
lost to L.A. Rams 41-39

Denver Broncos
10
5
5

.556
27 !November 23, 2006
lost to Kansas City 19–10
02 !October 13, 2016
lost to San Diego 21–13

Atlanta Falcons
9
6
3

.714
24 !December 16, 2006
lost to Dallas 38–28
28 !November 3, 2016
defeated Buccaneers 43-28

Chicago Bears
9
4
5

.444
30 !December 6, 2007
lost to Washington 24–16
05 !September 28, 2017
lost to Green Bay 35–14

Baltimore Ravens
10
6
4

.600
13 !November 30, 2006
lost to Cincinnati 13–7
14 !October 26, 2017
defeated Miami 40-0

Seattle Seahawks
6
5
1

.667
11 !December 14, 2006
lost to San Francisco 24–14
23 !November 9, 2017
defeated Arizona 22-16

Green Bay Packers
6
5
1

.883
21 !December 21, 2006
defeated Minnesota 9–7
09 !September 28, 2017
defeated Chicago 35-14

Arizona Cardinals
8
4
4

.600
28 !November 27, 2008
lost to Philadelphia 48–20
03 !November 9, 2017
lost to Seattle 22-16

Washington Redskins
8
4
4

.400
12 !December 30, 2006
lost to N.Y. Giants 34–28
32 !December 26, 2015
defeated Philadelphia 38-24

New England Patriots
6
5
1

.833
10 !December 29, 2007
defeated N.Y. Giants 38–35
15 !October 5, 2017
defeated Tampa Bay 19–14

Miami Dolphins
8
4
4

.500
06 !November 19, 2009
defeated Carolina 24–17
24 !October 26, 2017
lost to Baltimore 40-0

Houston Texans
7
3
4

.200
07 !December 13, 2007
defeated Denver 31–13
17 !September 14, 2017
defeated Cincinnati 13-9

Oakland Raiders
9
5
4

.429
08 !December 23, 2006
lost to Kansas City 20–9
08 !October 19, 2017
defeated Kansas City 31-30

Cleveland Browns
8
3
5

.286
22 !December 7, 2006
lost to Pittsburgh 27–7
18 !October 29, 2017
lost to Minnesota 33-16

Cincinnati Bengals
10
4
6

.375
19 !November 30, 2006
defeated Baltimore 13–7
27 !September 14, 2017
lost to Houston 13–9

Carolina Panthers
10
3
7

.333
31 !December 22, 2007
lost to Dallas 20–13
21 !October 12, 2017
lost to Philadelphia 28-23

Jacksonville Jaguars
8
3
5

.286
14 !December 18, 2008
lost to Indianapolis 31–24
13 !October 27, 2016
lost to Tennessee 36–22

Tennessee Titans
8
3
5

.286
16 !December 25, 2009
lost to San Diego 42–17
19 !November 16, 2017
lost to Pittsburgh 40-17

New Orleans Saints
7
3
4

.286
23 !December 11, 2008
lost to Chicago 27–24
26 !November 17, 2016
lost to Carolina 23–20

Buffalo Bills
7
2
5

.333
26 !December 3, 2009
lost to N.Y. Jets 19–13
04 !November 2, 2017
lost to N.Y. Jets 34–21

Los Angeles Rams†
8
3
5

.500
05 !December 20, 2007
lost to Pittsburgh 41–24
01 !September 21, 2017
defeated San Francisco 41-39

Minnesota Vikings
6
2
4

.167
15 !December 21, 2006
lost to Green Bay 9–7
11 !October 29, 2017
defeated Cleveland 33-16

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
6
1
5

.200
16 !December 17, 2011
lost to Dallas 31–15
16 !October 5, 2017
lost to New England 19-14

Detroit Lions
1
0
1

.000
16 !December 3, 2015
lost to Green Bay 27-23
16 !December 3, 2015
lost to Green Bay 27-23

text: • †St. Louis Rams, 1995–2015 • ‡San Diego Chargers, 1961–2016

text: Reception[edit]

text: Carriage[edit]

text: Upon the original launch of the Thursday and Saturday night games, few television service providers carried the NFL Network due to disputes during the network's terms in its carriage contracts during negotiations. These disputes were magnified throughout the 2007 season, as two high-profile matchups were to be broadcast by the network. The first was a matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers which was scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving and saw both teams at 10-1, vying for the top seed in the NFC, and the second was Week 17 Saturday night game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, where the Patriots had a chance to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to end a regular season undefeated.

text: In the first case, fans were displeased that a matchup between two teams at such a critical point in the season was not available on broadcast television except in the Dallas and Green Bay markets. To avoid such a problem with the potential sixteenth victory for the Patriots, CBS and NBC bought broadcast rights to the game so it could be seen by a nationwide audience on both cable and broadcast television. This ended up causing another controversy, however, as the move by the networks infringed on the exclusivity that would normally have been enjoyed by WWOR-TV in New York City and WCVB-TV in Boston, which were the Giants' and Patriots' respective local over-the-air broadcasters for cable-televised games (the game aired on these stations, as well as on WCBS-TV, WNBC, WBZ-TV and WHDH in the teams' market areas).[49]

text: Game quality and viewership[edit]

text: Thursday Night Football games on NFL Network are among the lowest-rated nationally televised NFL broadcasts. Critics have argued that the games televised on Thursday Night Football have been of lower quality than other prime time games, as they often featured match-ups between lesser or poor-performing teams, and that the shortened rest between games triggered by Thursday games also has an effect on their overall quality.[17][18] In an analysis by Sports on Earth writer Aaron Roberts, it was determined that most Thursday games were of average or above-average quality in comparison to normal, non-prime time games, but that this was "by design" due to the leverage of other NFL broadcasters on how games are scheduled throughout the season (which traditionally prioritizes "major" games for either late-afternoon or Sunday and Monday nights).[50][51]

text: The move of selected games to CBS brought improved ratings: the inaugural game was the highest-rated program of the night, with an audience share of 13.7 and an average of 20.7 million viewers, representing a 108% increase in ratings over the first NFL Network game in 2013. The game, whose ratings were boosted by coverage of the Ray Rice scandal, also brought CBS its highest prime time ratings on a Thursday night since May 2006. While lower, at 9.6 million viewers, the Week 3 game between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was also the highest-rated program of the night.[52][53][54][55] The first four games of the package, however, featured blowout victories.[56][57] In total, average viewership of the games increased from around 7 million to around 11.8 million in the 2014 season.[58]

text: Controversy over ratings and the quality of play in Thursday night contests escalated when on November 28, 2016, a report circulated that the league was considering ending the franchise. The NFL, however, denied this rumor.[59] The subsequent game on December 1, 2016 between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings was the highest rated Thursday Night Football of the season.[60][61]

text: During the 2016 season, current and former players including Richard Sherman,[62] J. J. Watt,[63] and Charles Woodson [64] expressed their dislikes for Thursday Night Football, with Richard Sherman calling it a "poopfest".[65]

text: Player safety[edit]

text: As mentioned, a team needing to play a Thursday night game can result in a shortened rest period for players between games.[17][18] On October 6, 2014, Arian Foster, then of the Houston Texans, made a statement considering it hypocritical for the NFL to emphasize the safety of players (particularly in regards to concussions) while allowing its players to play a game on only three days' rest, which he considered to be equally "dangerous".[57] Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks has also voiced displeasure about Thursday night games reducing prep time, and wrote a 2016 editorial for The Players' Tribune about the games[66]. Sherman's 2017 season would end on November 9, 2017 during a Thursday night game against the Arizona Cardinals, when he ruptured his Achilles tendon.[67]

text: On January 29, 2015, the NFL released its health and safety report, which states that an average of 4.8 injuries were sustained during Thursday games compared to 6.9 injuries per game on Sundays and Mondays.[68]